Final Whistle: Something must change for Ohio State's offense and it could be J.T. Barrett

That was Urban Meyer’s concise answer, in the moments after a 31-16 loss to Oklahoma that wasn’t as close as the margin, to whether he’d thought about making a quarterback change. But that was before he’d had much time to think about, well, much at all.

Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett is sacked by Oklahoma linebacker Emmanuel Beal, right, and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo (31) during the second quarter at Ohio Stadium.

The Buckeyes scored only one touchdown. J.T. Barrett was inefficient – largely ineffective – in the passing game, again. Ohio State’s offense, supposedly new and improved by offseason staff additions, looked like the same unit that sputtered into stagnation last season.

For Ohio State like other powers, any loss prompts nit-picking analysis, externally but also internally. And yeah, it provokes overreaction.

But Ohio State clearly has questions to answer and problems to fix. Saturday night was an emphatic statement about where the Sooners are, at least early in the season. But it also seemed to speak loudly as to the Buckeyes and their lingering offensive malaise.

“We were just out of rhythm,” said offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson who was brought in to find one. “Even the times we tried to go fast, there wasn’t a lot to it. We need to find a sequencing of plays to get us in the flow.”

Wilson called the performance “disjointed.” There are plenty of places to point blame, including play-calling. For example, why didn’t Ohio State pound the running game more? There’s not a readily identifiable game-breaker among Ohio State’s receivers. But opponents have decided to make Barrett beat them with his arm, and he hasn’t been able to do it (19 of 35 for 183 yards against Oklahoma).

In four of the last five games, he’s thrown for fewer than 200 yards. He missed several open receivers against Oklahoma, and threw a fourth-quarter interception that essentially ended any real chance of a miracle comeback.

“You’re the starting quarterback and you lose and didn’t play very well,” Meyer said. “A lot of it is going to be on him. That’s just the nature of the beast. … But I’m going to make it perfectly clear. There’s not a bullseye on J.T. Barrett.”

What comes next? Well, other than Army, UNLV and Rutgers? Maybe the Buckeyes find a way to turn Barrett into a better passer – doubtful, and he’s going to face the same kinds of defensive zone schemes Oklahoma used, which force a quarterback to fit the football into tight windows. That’s not Barrett’s forte. Or maybe they use some portion of the next few weeks to see whether someone else – redshirt freshman Dwayne Haskins? – might provide a spark.

That seems crazy on its face, given Barrett’s 27-5 record as a starter and his very significant accomplishments.

“I think (Meyer is) confident in me,” Barrett told reporters Saturday night. “… I’m gonna go work to get better, just try to rally my guys and make sure that when it comes to next week, we’re at our best.”

But what, exactly, is their best? Ohio State’s sheer talent edge will overwhelm most opponents. But the expectation is Big Ten championships and playoff runs. Without dramatic offensive improvement, the Buckeyes aren’t a legitimate contender for the latter – and maybe not the former.

To get there, something has to change.

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When Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton was made aware of the statistic last week, he was incredulous. In 126 football seasons, Eastern Michigan had never beaten a Power Five opponent in 58 tries.

Creighton wasn’t going to tell the players, “but it was just unconscionable to me.” So in a team meeting last Tuesday, he told them:

“We can either be the 59th and there will be more opportunities, or we can be the first ever.”

The result: a 16-13 victory at Rutgers, and the continuation of a surprising surge for a program which has long struggled simply to compete at the FBS level, never mind winning.

Yeah, it was Rutgers, which has now lost 11 in a row. But a win against a Big Ten bottom-dweller is still a win against a Big Ten team. And a week earlier Rutgers had played well in a loss to Washington.

“Anyone watched Rutgers last week, Rutgers was frightening in how much they had improved from last year. They totally looked like they belonged (with Washington).”

And Saturday, Eastern Michigan clearly belonged with that Power Five program, at least.

“Our guys responded,” Creighton said. “So it’s big for us in that way, to say, ‘Hey, we’re making some history.’”

That’s especially true considering recent history. In April 2016, a group of Eastern Michigan faculty members urged the school to shutter the program, or at least to drop to a lower division. The administration felt the need to issue an official statement that any suggestion it would do so was “absolutely false.”

“But the damage had been done in perception,” Creighton said.

Last season, the Eagles finished 7-6 and played in the Bahamas Bowl. It was their first winning season since 1995, their first bowl appearance since 1987.

The Eagles’ theme this season, Creighton’s fourth, is “For Real,” and it’s for just the reason you’d think.

“It was like, we had a good season (in 2016),” Creighton said, “but people don’t really believe we’re actually for real. Like it was a once-in-a-lifetime, lightning-in-a-bottle thing. So we were proud of our victory (in Week 1) against Charlotte. And (beating Rutgers) was another step in proving to ourselves and others.”

The best sign of growth, Creighton said, might have come in Saturday’s postgame locker room.

“It wasn’t euphoric,” he said. “We’ve had some wins here where I’ve had to take a step back and I couldn’t believe the motion. It was too much, it was crazy. But this was joy, but not over the top. It was more appropriate, like they know we’ve got a long way to go.”

But they’ve come a long way.

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It’s been a difficult few days for Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin, and football – which is not going well, despite a 24-14 victory over Nicholls State – might have been the easiest part.

Last week, his wife Charlene Sumlin tweeted a photograph of an anonymous letter with a racial slur that had been sent to the family’s home. After the game Saturday, Sumlin addressed the issue publicly for the first time.

“My wife and kids have never called a play,” Sumlin said. “My wife and kids have never done anything football-wise that led to us losing a game or winning a game. … She didn’t like it, she didn’t feel safe about it. My kids didn’t feel safe about it.”

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Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley’s offensive creativity was on full display in the victory over Ohio State, but one example, on a play that was fairly inconsequential to the final outcome, stood out.

Late in the second quarter, Mayfield limped off the field with what he later said was a leg cramp. On came backup quarterback Kyler Murray.

Like you might expect, with Murray coming cold into the cauldron that was the Horseshoe, the play call was a handoff – followed by a whiz-bang wrinkle unseen since, well, when has anyone recently seen the quarterback become the halfback on an option play?

“We’d never run it before,” Riley said. “We just thought it would be a good play.”

Murray, who might be Oklahoma’s fastest player, handed off to freshman running back Trey Sermon, then trailed him around right end. He took a pitch from Sermon and ran 9 yards.

“Thought we could have gotten a little bit more out of it,” Riley said.

When asked about it, Riley essentially shrugged and said, “somebody on staff … came up with it. We thought it would be a good look.”

Oklahoma defensive coordinator said Riley sprung it on his unit during practice last week.

“I saw Kyler running that play this week against us,” Stoops said, “and I didn’t know what happened.”

It was fair to wonder whether Mayfield’s limping retreat to the sidelines was part of the act, given the way he returned for the next play looking very healthy. The quarterback denied it – “I mean, I can do a lot of things,” he said, “but I can’t act” – but take that how you want. It might well have been a part of the play’s packaging as devised by Riley.

– The first staff change of the season came Sunday, when East Carolina announced defensive coordinator Kenwick Thompson had been reassigned within the program; defensive line coach Robert Prunty will take over.

In losing to James Madison and West Virginia, the Pirates gave up piles of yards and points. James Madison, an FCS-level opponent, rushed for 422 yards in a 34-14 win in the opener. And Saturday, West Virginia totaled 619 yards in a 56-20 win.

– Southern California snapped a three-game losing streak to Stanford. The Cardinal had won seven of the last nine in the series. USC piled up 623 total yards – most given up by a David Shaw-coached team – and had more points (28 at halftime) than in the previous two games against Stanford.

– Bob Stoops celebrated his 57th birthday by watching his hand-picked successor beat Ohio State. Sunday, he no doubt went golfing. Seems like a good life.

– Assessing Oregon’s 42-35 victory against Nebraska depends on your prism. The Ducks were terrific in piling up 409 yards and 42 points in the first half. And then they were terrible in the second half, needing a late interception to preserve victory. Either they’re back, or they’ve still got plenty of issues.

“Somewhere in the middle,” Oregon coach Willie Taggart said. “We still don’t know how good we can be.”